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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-18T11:36:08+00:00

I work at a small Web Dev firm, and have been handling all the

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I work at a small Web Dev firm, and have been handling all the PHP/MySQL/etc. for a while. I’m looking at improving our practices to allow for easier collaboration as we grow. Some things I have in mind are:

  • Implementing a versioning system
  • Coding standards for the team
    (unless mandated by a certain
    framework, etc.)
  • Enforcing a common directory
    structure for our Desktops (for
    backup purposes, etc.)
  • Web-based
    task/project/time/file/password/contact
    management and collaboration app(we’ve tried a bunch; I may just create one)

What do more experienced Lead/Sr. Developers view as necessary first steps in this area? Do you recommend any books? One thing to consider is that the bulk of our daily tasks involve maintenance and adding minor functionality rather than new projects, and the team size will be between 3 and 5.

I’m surprised I didn’t find a similar question by searching SO… Is there a more appropriate place?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    1) Implementing a revision control

    I would suggest making friends with Git. It is a distributed revision control system. You do not need any “central unit” and every working copy contains full development history (and therefore is a backup copy). There is “Git Magic” – a great tutorial for those who are not familiar with revision control systems.

    Revision Control Systems help with progress assessment. You work therefore you commit. A simple diff can give you a lot of useful information about progress, problems and the actual code in no time. A diff is like a picture: worth a thousand words.

    2) Coding standards

    It is not about re-invention, it is only about implementation. As you are working with PHP, I would implement the Zend Framework Coding Standard for PHP.

    For documentation you might want to use phpDocumentor. There will never be enough time to document everything. But many things are obvious and need no explanation. Discuss the other things with other team members, make comments on that.

    3) Workstations

    It is much better to use a revision control system or a shared directory than a unified workstation solution. A distributed revision control system is very good for backups. Not only for the output (the code, you make), but also for the input (the stuff, you get from clients). Think of it as of a thing, you do not want to consume the time on.

    4) Collaboration app

    It is difficult. There is no perfect app. And it is all about discipline. As I mentioned before, a revision control system helps you to monitor a progress and identify problems. Do you, as a Project Manager, need a planner app? Does a pencil and a piece of paper work? If so, then does a wiki. Contribute to it and let your team to contribute. it works well for me.

    5) Books

    Joel Spolsky is your friend when it comes to project management.

    6) Additional advice

    • life is too short to not like your job – and that applies not only to you but to everyone, including your team members;
    • it is important to let / tell people to do, what they do best – discover talents of your team members, discover their strengths and weaknesses, make them like their jobs and tasks;
    • have a guy, who will challenge any opinion, you would have – you are not perfect, neither is he – teach him to defend his opinions, learn to defend yours;
    • be a guy from your team, be the one of them, not the one of “the others” – it’s not about making friends, it more about representing them and enabling them to do, what they are supposed to do;
    • keep in mind, that people around you are humans, not machines – they have “good days” and they have “bad days” – being a leader means being a captain of a ship, it’s more about making decisions than making requests or giving orders. They have to feel, that you LEAD the project, not are just a “guy in command”. They have to feel, that they are important. Nobody wants to be “a human resource” and a team is not built up from “human resources”. The worst thing you can do is to give orders but not to take responsibility for failures;
    • tell them, when they perform well, motivate them to perform better, to develop themselves;
    • have a beer from time to time: again, it is not about making friends, it is about normal, human relations.

    7) If in doubt…

    • ask
    • communicate
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